Language and tone in Carrion Comfort

Hopkins the victim

Hopkins mentions to Bridges that one of his sonnets about this time ‘was written in blood'. It is assumed he meant this one - the tone is so desperate, it goes well beyond the soul-searching of the confession:

Particularly agonising are such phrases as

‘me heaped there; me frantic to avoid thee and flee?'

The repetition of ‘me' is echoed in the sestet with the equally harrowing ‘me's of the questions

Hopkins creates a complicated adjectival phrase: ‘the hero whose heaven-handling flung me, foot trod Me?' To paraphrase: ‘Is this consolation meant to cheer me, who have experienced my hero flinging me about as part of his divine purposes (‘heaven-handling') and also his foot treading on me?'

Hopkins the combatant

The other ‘me' is the one ‘that fought him' (as Jacob did Genesis 32:24-30). The two ‘me's of the divided personality echo New Testament writer Paul, when he says in a chapter that deals entirely with the divided personality:

‘O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' (Romans 7:24 TNIV)

What effect does such a large proportion have on the reading of the sonnet?

What other devices indicate the passion or torment in which Hopkins is writing?

English Standard Version

King James Version

1I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath;2he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light;3surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long.4He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; he has broken my bones;5he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation;6he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago.7He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy;8though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer;9he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; he has made my paths crooked.10He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding;11he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate;12he bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow.13He drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver;14I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long.15He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood.16He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes;17my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is;18so I say, My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord.19Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall!20My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me.21But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:22The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;23they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.24The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in him.25The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.26It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.27It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.28Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him;29let him put his mouth in the dust - there may yet be hope;30let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults.31For the Lord will not cast off forever,32but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love;33for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men.34To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the earth,35to deny a man justice in the presence of the Most High,36to subvert a man in his lawsuit, the Lord does not approve.37Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?38Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?39Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins?40Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord!41Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:42We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven.43You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us, killing without pity;44you have wrapped yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.45You have made us scum and garbage among the peoples.46All our enemies open their mouths against us;47panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction;48my eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.49My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite,50until the Lord from heaven looks down and sees;51my eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the daughters of my city.52I have been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause;53they flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me;54water closed over my head; I said, I am lost.55I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit;56you heard my plea, Do not close your ear to my cry for help!57You came near when I called on you; you said, Do not fear!58You have taken up my cause, O Lord; you have redeemed my life.59You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord; judge my cause.60You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me.61You have heard their taunts, O Lord, all their plots against me.62The lips and thoughts of my assailants are against me all the day long.63Behold their sitting and their rising; I am the object of their taunts.64You will repay them, O Lord, according to the work of their hands.65You will give them dullness of heart; your curse will be on them.66You will pursue them in anger and destroy them from under your heavens, O Lord.

1I AM the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.2He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.3Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.4My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.5He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.6He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.7He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.8Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.9He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked.10He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.11He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.12He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.13He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.14I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day.15He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.16He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.17And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.18And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD:19Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.20My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.21This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.22It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.23They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.24The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.25The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.26It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.27It is good for a man that he bear the yoke of his youth.28He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.29He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.30He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.31For the LORD will not cast off for ever:32But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.33For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.34To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth.35To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,36To subvert a man in his cause, the LORD approveth not.37Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?38Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?39Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?40Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.41Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.42We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned.43Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.44Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.45Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.46All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.47Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.48Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.49Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission.50Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven.51Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.52Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.53They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.54Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off.55I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.56Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.57Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.58O LORD, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.59O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause.60Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me.61Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their imaginations against me;62The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.63Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their musick.64Render unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.65Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.66Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD.

English Standard Version

King James Version

1Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.2And when Jacob saw them he said, This is God's camp! So he called the name of that place Mahanaim.3And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom,4instructing them, Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now.5I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.6And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.7Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps,8thinking, If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.9And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,10I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.11Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children.12But you said, I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.13So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau,14two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,15thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.16These he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, Pass on ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove.17He instructed the first, When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?18then you shall say, They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us.19He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him,20and you shall say, Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us. For he thought, I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.21So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.22The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.23He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had.24And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.25When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.26Then he said, Let me go, for the day has broken. But Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me.27And he said to him, What is your name? And he said, Jacob.28Then he said, Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.29Then Jacob asked him, Please tell me your name. But he said, Why is it that you ask my name? And there he blessed him.30So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.31The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.32Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thigh.

1And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.2And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.3And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.4And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now:5And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight.6And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.7Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands;8And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.9And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee:10I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.11Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.12And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.13And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother;14Two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams,15Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals.16And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove.17And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee?18Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob's; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, also he is behind us.19And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him.20And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me.21So went the present over before him: and himself lodged that night in the company.22And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok.23And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had.24And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.25And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.26And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.27And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.28And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.29And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.30And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.31And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.32Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.

English Standard Version

King James Version

1Or do you not know, brothers - for I am speaking to those who know the law - that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?2For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.3Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.4Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.5For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.6But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.7What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, You shall not covet.8But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.9I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.10The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.11For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.12So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.13Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.14For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.15For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.16Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.17So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.18For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.19For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.20Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.21So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.22For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,23but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.24Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

1Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?2For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.3So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.4Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.5For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.6But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.7What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.8But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.9For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.10And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.11For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.12Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.13Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.15For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.16If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.17Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.18For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:23But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?25I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

A 'testament' is a covenant (binding agreement), a term used in the Bible of God's relationship with his people. The New Testament is the second part of the Christian Bible. Its name comes from the new covenant or relationship with God.

The 'Apostle to the Gentiles' (d. c. CE 65). Paul had a major role in setting up the Early Church and is believed to be the author of several letters in the Bible.

Alliteration is a device frequently used in poetry or rhetoric (speech-making) whereby words starting with the same consonant are used in close proximity- e.g. 'fast in fires', 'stars, start'.

The device, frequently used at the ends of lines in poetry, where words with the same sound are paired, sometimes for contrast ' for example, 'breath' and 'death'.

A word containing only one syllable; this may be contrasted with a polysyllabic word ' that is, a word containing several syllables.